Innovation on tube sander

Open innovation is the improvement of products from an idea.

Open innovation as seen by Nicolas GERVAIS

Open innovation is THE Fartools philosophy!  Nicolas GERVAIS, Chef produits Fartools, nous parle de cette initiative lancée il y a 4 ans et qui porte ses fruits.

The Club of experts associates our Fartools team with professionals and experienced DIYers around the brand's tools. Product tests, exchanges and innovations are at the heart of a relationship based on trust that has been built up over the past 4 years.

• « Our brand values this exchange group for several reasons:
  It allows us to be as close as possible and to listen to the needs of our users. Our experts are used to giving us uncompromising feedback and testing our tools in real conditions, guaranteeing their quality and reliability for the general public.
  They anticipate questions, such as dust emissions, and find solutions or alternatives. »
• « As part of the Expert Club, we have a procedure called "Tested and validated by our experts". Every quarter, we propose 5 machines to all our experts who give us, by return, their comments and suggestions for improvement. During one of these tests, the Fartools tube sander, a very specific machine with an articulated arm, was tested by Diarmuid DOOLEY. This woodturner is passionate about his art and was the first to join our club. He was already an expert before we created the club! »

More than an expert in his field, he passes on his knowledge to many people through woodturning courses. For the more greedy, he also works on chocolate.

Our sander was equipped with a protective housing, which protected the hands, but was not intended to collect dust.
Diarmuid had the idea of slightly modifying the housing and, above all, of adding a dust collector to connect a vacuum cleaner.
From the first test, he realized that his housing greatly limited the dust.
Once the prototype was sent to our industrial subcontractor, we made a few additional modifications to industrialize the modification and facilitate production.

« In principle, it takes almost 12 months to develop a project from A to Z. After receiving the idea, we start with 6 to 8 months of exchanges which will allow us to refine and specify the project. We will then create at least one prototype. Another 4 months will be necessary for the development, production, administrative set-up, quality control and the whole process of creation and qualification of the product, until the final acceptance. »

We operate above all through listening and exchange. We create prototypes with the expert and then with the factory until a sample is manufactured and put into production. 

It took longer for the product to reach the market this time, because the global health crisis slowed things down considerably. 

Open innovation as seen by Ronan GUILLOT

Open innovation is THE Fartools philosophy! Ronan Guillot, Director of Business France at Fartools, tells us about this initiative launched 4 years ago and which is paying off

Open innovation, a new space for creativity
« The principle of open innovation was implemented in 2017 at Fartools, with the aim of breaking out of the usual product selection or Research and Development pattern. »

This open innovation hub collects suggestions for product improvements from various sources.

• Feedback from the sales force via the sales administration and after-sales service, allows us to gather information to develop the products.
• The innovation sheet provides a direct link from users to the brand. This document, which can be downloaded from our site, allows users to propose their idea to the brand and to create a partnership with the inventor in the case of an interesting and economically viable project.
• The creation of a Club of Experts composed of craftsmen covering different trades, welders, tilers, turners, to have a wide panel and knowledgeable handymen. The club now has 50 members, with a 60/40 split between craftsmen and experienced handymen.

The goal was to have them tell us what is needed and what is missing from our products, through their eyes and their professional use. Savvy do-it-yourselfers are the core target group for the Fartools brand. We recruit continuously, always within a local area (Indre-et-Loire), to make it easy to meet and exchange. In parallel, we have a few influencers based throughout France who join the club, with digital feedback.

The vocation of open innovation is not to start from a blank page, even if it can happen. It's more about creating products that are adapted to our customers. In fact, a study has shown that 70% of products are hijacked by their users.

Open innovation as seen by Diarmuid DOOLEY

Open innovation is THE Fartools philosophy!  Diarmuid Dooley, one of our experts, explains his involvement in the project.

Une innovation dans le cadre de la recherche d’amélioration continue

« When working with woodturning, I used to use the Fartools tube sander. It worked much better and faster than working by hand with sandpaper. The only disadvantage was the generation of a lot of dust, which was harmful to health. It was therefore impossible to work in the workshop, even with a mask, and I had to work outside. I thought I had to find a solution. The machine allows such a release of material that the time saving generated was too tempting.

I had a Fartools renovator and I looked at the housing it was equipped with. That's when I had the idea of making a dust collector housing with the suction as close to the belt as possible. I created this housing from a column drill pulley cover in spare part. The shape was very close to the result to be obtained, a little cutting and welding and it was done.

I spent half a day making the protection and it worked great! Not all the dust was sucked out 100%. There was a tiny amount left around the machine, but nothing airborne, which is very nice.

It's really great, it works like a charm! » Diarmuid Dooley, woodturner

The idea of a protective housing with a dust collector to connect a vacuum cleaner was born. After a few exchanges with the factory, a prototype validated by Diamuid launched the serial production of the brand new Fartools tube sander with dust collector, the TBS 1300B

elow is a video demonstrating the effectiveness of the housing:

More informations about open innovation and on the Club of  Experts.